What the Tutors Do

This document is an outline of what students and instructors should expect from the Computer Science Tutors of Portland State University. Please contact the CS tutor coordinator, Casey Williams, at willic at pdx dot edu with questions or concerns.

What We Support

The tutors offer supplemental help for students in the following courses offered at PSU:

CS161

CS162

CS163

CS201

CS202

CS250

CS251

CS300

CS311

The tutors can help with:

Class assignments for the courses listed above

Accessing the Unix/Linux computer systems in the engineering school

Using the programming tools on these sytems

The tutors can help by:

Reviewing and clarifying concepts addressed in class or in the textbook

Clarifying the meaning of an assignment and making suggestions on how to start an assignment

Reviewing a student’s code to help diagnose compiler errors or run-time bugs (acting as a “second pair of eyes”)

Helping students with the process of editing, compiling, debugging, and executing programs from the command line

The tutors primarily help students in person in the CS lounge. When not helping someone in person, the tutors monitor the tutors’ email (tutors@cs.pdx.edu) and the Slack chat system at https://pdx-cs.slack.com/ (Sign up for chat here ). Students physically present in the CS lounge will be given higher priority than students online.

The tutors do not guarantee immediate online help.

What We Do Not Support

The tutors are not responsible for helping students with classes outside of the list of supported classes above. Examples of unsupported classes are:

CS 105, CS106, or CS classes higher than CS311

Classes outside of the CS program, whether at PSU or elsewhere

Tutors may try to help with unsupported classes like these, but we make no guarantee that we will be able to help, or that we will have time to help. Tutors must prioritize students who need help in supported classes.

The tutors are not responsible for:

Fixing a student’s personal computer

Installing software or operating systems on a student’s personal computer beyond the what is required for CS courses

If a tutor would like to help a student with such an endeavor, the student must understand that neither the tutors nor the CS department are responsible for any mishaps that may befall the student’s computer.